Escapees January-February 2024

at 32 gallons weighs 225 lbs., so that adds 175 lbs and takes our rear axle GAWR loading from 76 to 80 percent but, more importantly, this takes our GVWR from 97 to 99 percent. Each 100 lbs. of cargo adds one percent to the load, so just taking two extra camping passengers along pushes you over the top. Maybe Santa’s list has me down for a one ton RAM! Remember, when unhitched, we have the 950 lbs. of tongue weight now available to play with. Similarly, the Airstream W/G/B tanks were at 10, 10 and 25 percent, respectively, 140 lbs. water weight cumulative. Take those three tanks’ capacities to 100 percent and we add 780 lbs., largely over the rear axle, and our GVWR has shifted from 95 to 105 percent. This is an excellent reason to empty gray and black tanks before traveling and to keep a modest 20 percent fresh water for basic necessities en route! Even more comforting is the fact that this avoids the tail weight wagging the dog! An additional useful check is comparing your truck and trailer tire load ratings against the blue box recorded weights. Our RAM Michelin LTX 275/70R18 tires are rated at 3,640 lbs., and we carry a max load of 2,500 lbs. The Airstream Michelin LTX 225/75R16 are rated at 2,680 lbs., and we carry a max of 1,600 lbs. per tire. Both vehicles are well within the comfort zone. About one year ago we upgraded our 15-inch Goodyear Marathons to 16-inch Michelin Defenders to give us a better margin of safety, reliability, and performance.

DAVID AND MARGARET BROAD , have traveled eight months of the year since July 2016 in their 2015 Flying Cloud 25 RB. You can e-mail questions or comments to them at airstream@db26.net Their travel blog is at www. fl yingcloud25.blogspot.com. David also publishes an Airstream improvement will give you better gas mileage, longer tire life and shorter stopping distances. At least you’ve done the best you can to avoid becoming a road statistic! Safe travels and I hope to see you down the road! page at www.facebook.com/airstreamtweaks. To summarize our SmartWeigh results, we are well within GAWR, GCWR and tire load rating. The area of concern is the GVWR on both the truck, at 97 percent, and on the Airstream, at 95 percent. Both of these load factors are too close for comfort and require a brutal assessment and shed ding of excess weight, an Airstream version of WeightWatchers! Cut the Clutter One of our self-imposed routines is to completely empty our Airstream and truck when we return to our home base from our extended trips. Back to square one! It helps us dispose of the unnecessary or underused gear in favor of liberating space for some thing new! It’s a pain, but it can be quite rewarding to enjoy a no clutter lifestyle and keep control of trailer weight. Traveling with the assured knowledge that our vehicles are not overloaded gives us one less thing to worry about! Losing weight in both tow vehicle and towed trailer

56

ESCAPEES Magazine January/February 2024